There is been a lot of talk lately about a lack of management skills brought on by the exodus of the Baby Boomers from the workplace, coupled with many Millennial's lack of experience and soft skills. To help close the leadership gap, experts in the human resources and hiring areas were asked to share how they discern a job candidate's willingness and potential to develop management and leadership skills in the interview process.

Here are insights from the experts to identify a job candidate's leadership and management potential:

• Before you start your search, know what leadership and management look like in the organization: To spot potential leaders and managers, first define what skills and capabilities good leaders have. Without those standards, each individual making hiring decisions will apply their own beliefs. Have a framework to evaluate internal and external talent for effective leadership. Your organization needs to agree about what are indicators of potential leaders and managers. What leadership capabilities are critical.
• Ask people straight up: Do you want to be a manager? Not everyone enjoys being in charge. During the interview process, hiring managers should directly ask job candidates if they are interested in managing others. Being straightforward, rather than navigating the intricate results of a comprehensive personality test, can yield positive results.
• What to do when a job seeker lacks management experience: Managing a project requires task-related and people-related skills. Use a person's preferences for those responsibilities to evaluate leadership potential. Make a list of task-related items (creating a work breakdown structure, managing a project budget) and people-related items (meeting with team members to get input, reviewing and giving feedback on project team members' deliverables). During interviews, ask job candidates to rate how much they like doing each task on a 1-to-10 scale. If the candidate's responses suggest a strong preference for tasks over people, he or she is unlikely to find job satisfaction as a people manager. You can adjust the question to fit experienced managers by asking, "What are your favorite aspects of project management?" Observe if they mention people-related or task-related items.
• We did this versus I did this: The key interview question to evaluate this skill is: "Tell me about the project you are proudest of in your career." If the candidate describes situations that could have easily been attributed to a single person, but he came across explaining how he let "his team" take credit for the accomplishments, it is the best sign of a leader. The lesson: leaders talk about team building, rather than focusing on individual accomplishments.
• Ask interview questions that reveal character: It is hard to mentor character, morals, and values. It's something that's innate in that person.
• Seek out those who try hard and embrace management tasks: I like to ask them What do you want to do in 3 to 5 years? How do you see yourself accomplishing that? What can we do to help you get there? Check for those candidates who have a vision for the future that includes management or leadership.
• Entrepreneurs often have leadership and management skills: People who have started businesses have a wealth of connections and are quite resourceful. Even failed entrepreneurs can make solid leaders. In hiring, it is not whether the business did well or not, but what the applicants learned from their successes and failures. Everyone succeeds and fails in some manner. We want to know if the applicants understand how to replicate their success and avoid similar failures.
• How do you handle a disgruntled employee in your department who has made a habit of arriving late to work and causing minor disruptions during the day as well as a declining morale among the rest of the staff?: Uncovering skills and character traits beyond surface attributes is the key take away when scouting for strong leadership. Use the interview process to evaluate the candidate's character, ambitions, and personal successes before choosing your next front runner. The results might surprise you.